Wastebasket Found Starting Point For Fire

East Hartford Fire News

November 29, 1994

A Nov. 5 fire at a high-rise housing complex for the elderly started in a wastepaper basket, a fire official said Monday.

Gerald S. Campbell, deputy fire marshal, said he does not know what caused the fire at 101 Connecticut Blvd., but it was not suspicious. The fire started in the living room of Russell Hagedorn's 10th-floor apartment shortly after 11 p.m.

David Hagedorn, the tenant's son, was the only person home at the time. He was sleeping in a bedroom when the fire started, he told fire officials. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford and released Nov. 7.

There were no other injuries. Twenty apartments were damaged by water during the fire, and 25 residents were evacuated.